II Chronicles

Chapter 36

1. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and
made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.

2. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

3. And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned
the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

4. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah
and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took
Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

5. Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was
evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

6. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him
in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

7. Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the
LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

8. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which
he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in
the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son
reigned in his stead.

9. Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which
was evil in the sight of the LORD.

10. And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and
brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the
LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

12. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God,
and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the
mouth of the LORD.

13. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made
him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart
from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

14. Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people,
transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and
polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

15. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his
messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion
on his people, and on his dwelling place: 16. But they mocked the
messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets,
until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was
no remedy.

17. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who
slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary,
and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that
stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.

18. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and
the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king,
and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.

19. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of
Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed
all the goodly vessels thereof.

20. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to
Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign
of the kingdom of Persia: 21. To fulfil the word of the LORD by the
mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as
long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and
ten years.

22. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of
the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the
LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a
proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing,
saying, 23. Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the
earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to
build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among
you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.